Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology Part 18

Being expelled his dominions by Jupiter, he fled to Scythia, where he retired to Mount Caucasus, either to make astronomical calculations or to indulge his melancholy for the loss of his dominions, which occasioned the fable of the vulture or eagle feeding on his liver. As he was the first inventor of forging metals by fire, he was said to have stolen that element from heaven; and, as the first introduction of agriculture and navigation had been ascribed to him, he was celebrated as forming a living man from an inanimate substance.

AMPHION, king of Thebes, son of Jupiter and Antiope, was instructed in the use of the lyre by Mercury, and became so great a proficient, that he is reported to have built the walls of Thebes by the power of his harmony, which caused the listening stones to ascend voluntarily. He married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, whose insult to Diana occasioned the loss of their children by the arrows of Apollo and Diana. The unhappy father, attempting to revenge himself by the destruction of the temple of Apollo, was punished with the loss of his sight and skill, and thrown into the infernal regions.

ORPHEUS, son of Apollo by the Muse Calliope, was born in Thrace, and resided near Mount Rhodope, where he married Eurydice, a princess of that country. Aristaeus, a neighboring prince, fell desperately in love with her, but she flying from his violence, was killed by the bite of a serpent. Her disconsolate husband was so affected at his loss, that he descended by the way of Taenarus to h.e.l.l, in order to recover his beloved wife. As music and poetry were to Orpheus hereditary talents, he exerted them so powerfully in the infernal regions, that Pluto and Proserpine, touched with compa.s.sion, restored to him his consort on condition that he should not look back upon her till they came to the light of the world. His impatience, however, prevailing, he broke the condition, and lost Eurydice forever.

Whilst Orpheus was among the shades, he sang the praises of all the G.o.ds but Bacchus, whom he accidentally omitted; to revenge this affront, Bacchus inspired the Maenades, his priestesses, with such fury, that they tore Orpheus to pieces, and scattered his limbs about the fields. His head was cast into the river Hebrus, and (together with his harp) was carried by the tide to Lesbos, where it afterwards delivered oracles.

The harp, with seven strings, representing the seven planets, which had been given him by Apollo, was taken up into heaven, and graced with nine stars by the nine Muses. Orpheus himself was changed into a swan. He left a son called Methon, who founded in Thrace a city of his own name.

It is certain that Orpheus may be placed as the earliest poet of Greece, where he first introduced astronomy, divinity, music and poetry; all which he had learned in Egypt. He introduced also the rites of Bacchus, which from him were called Orphica. He was a person of most consummate knowledge, and the wisest, as well as the most diligent scholar of Linus.

If we search for the origin of this fable, we must again have recourse to Egypt, the mother-country of fiction. In July, when the sun entered Leo, the Nile overflowed all the plains. To denote the public joy at seeing the inundation rise to its due height, the Egyptians exhibited a youth playing on the lyre, or the sistrum, and sitting by a tame lion.

When the waters did not increase as they should, the Horus was represented stretched on the back of a lion, as dead. This symbol they called Oreph, or Orpheus, (from _oreph_, the back part of the head) to signify that agriculture was then quite unseasonable and dormant.

The songs with which the people amused themselves during this period of inactivity, for want of exercise, were called the hymns of Orpheus; and as husbandry revived immediately after, it gave rise to the fable of Orpheus's returning from h.e.l.l. The Isis placed near this Horus, they called Eurydice, (from _eri_, a _lion_, and _daca_, _tamed_, is formed _Eridica_, _Eurydice_, or the lion tamed, _i.e._ the violence of the inundation overcome), and as the Greeks took all these figures in the literal, not in the emblematical sense, they made Eurydice the wife of Orpheus.

OSIRIS, son of Jupiter and Niobe, was king of the Argives many years; but, being instigated by the desire of glory, he left his kingdom to his brother aegialus, and went into Egypt, in search of a new name and kingdom there. The Egyptians were not so much overcome by the valor of Osiris, as obliged to him for his kindness towards them. Having conferred the greatest benefits on his subjects, by civilizing their manners, and instructing them in husbandry and other useful arts, he made the necessary disposition of his affairs, committed the regency to Isis, and set out with a body of forces in order to civilize the rest of mankind. This he performed more by the power of persuasion, and the soothing arts of music and poetry, than by the terror of his arms.

In his absence, Typhus, the giant, whom historians call the brother of Osiris, formed a conspiracy to dethrone him; for which end, at the return of Osiris into Egypt, he invited him to a feast, at the conclusion of which a chest of exquisite workmans.h.i.+p was brought in, and offered to him who, when laid down in it, should be found to fit it the best. Osiris, not suspecting a trick to be played him, got into the chest, and the cover being immediately shut upon him, this good but unfortunate prince was thus thrown into the Nile.

When the news of this transaction reached Coptus, where Isis his wife then was, she cut her hair, and in deep mourning went every where in search of the dead body. This was at length discovered, and concealed by her at Butus; but Typhus, while hunting by moonlight, having found it there, tore it into many pieces, which he scattered abroad. Isis then traversed the lakes and watery places in a boat made of the _papyrus_, seeking the mangled parts of Osiris, and where she found any, there she buried them; hence the many tombs ascribed to Osiris.

Plutarch seems evidently to prove that the Egyptians wors.h.i.+pped the Sun under the name of Osiris. His reasons are: 1. Because the images of Osiris were always clothed in a s.h.i.+ning garment, to represent the rays and light of the sun. 2. In their hymns, composed in honor of Osiris, they prayed to him who reposes himself in the bosom of the sun. 3. After the autumnal equinox, they celebrated a feast called, _The disappearing of Osiris_, by which is plainly meant the absence and distance of the sun. 4. In the month of November they led a cow seven times round the temple of Osiris, intimating thereby, that in seven months the sun would return to the summer solstice.

He is represented sitting upon a throne, crowned with a mitre full of small orbs, to intimate his superiority over all the globe. The gourd upon the mitre implies his action and influence upon moisture, which, and the Nile particularly, was termed by the Egyptians, the efflux of Osiris. The lower part of his habit is made up of descending rays, and his body is surrounded with orbs. His right hand is extended in a commanding att.i.tude, and his left holds a _thyrsus_ or staff of the _papyrus_, pointing out the principle of humidity, and the fertility thence flowing, under his direction.

aeSCULAPIUS. The name of aesculapius, whom the Greeks called ?s???p???, appears to have been foreign, and derived from the oriental languages.

Being honored as a G.o.d in Phnicia and Egypt, his wors.h.i.+p pa.s.sed into Greece, and was established, first at Epidaurus, a city of Peloponnesus, bordering on the sea, where, probably, some colonies first settled; a circ.u.mstance sufficient for the Greeks to give out that this G.o.d was a native of Greece.

Not to mention all we are told of his parents, it will be enough to observe, that the opinion generally received in Greece, made him the son of Apollo by Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas; and indeed the Messenians, who consulted the oracle of Delphi to know where aesculapius was born, and of what parents, were told by the oracle, or more properly Apollo, that he himself was his father; that Coronis was his mother, and that their son was born at Epidaurus.

Phlegyas, the most warlike man of his age, having gone into Peloponnesus under pretence of travelling, but, in truth, to spy into the condition of the country, carried his daughter Coronis thither, who, to conceal her situation from her father, went to Epidaurus: there she was delivered of a son, whom she exposed upon a mountain, called to this day Mount t.i.tthion, or _of the breast_; but before this adventure, Myrthion, from the myrtles that grew upon it.

The reason of this change of name was, that the child, having been here abandoned, was suckled by one of those goats of the mountain, which the dog of Aristhenes the goat-herd guarded. When Aristhenes came to review his flock, he found a she-goat and his dog missing, and going in search of them discovered the child. Upon approaching to lift him from the earth, he perceived his head encircled with fiery rays, which made him believe the child to be of divine origin.

As ?????? in the Greek language signifies a crow, hence another fable arose importing, as we see in Lucian, that aesculapius had sprung from an egg of a bird, under the figure of a serpent. Whatever these fictions may mean, aesculapius being removed from the mount on which he was exposed, was nursed by Trigo or Trigone, who was probably the wife of the goat-herd that found him; and when he was capable of improving by Chiron, Phlegyas (to whom he had doubtless been returned) put him under the Centaur's tuition.

Being of a quick and lively genius, he made such progress as soon to become not only a great physician, but at length to be reckoned the G.o.d and inventor of medicine; though the Greeks, not very consistent in the history of those early ages, gave to Apis, son of Phoroneus, the glory of having discovered the healing art. aesculapius accompanied Jason in his expedition to Colchis, and in his medical capacity was of great service to the Argonauts. Within a short time after his death he was deified, and received divine honors: some add, that he formed the celestial sign, Serpentarius.

As the Greeks always carried the encomiums of their great men beyond the truth, they feigned that aesculapius was so expert in medicine, as not only to cure the sick, but even to raise the dead. Ovid says he did this by Hippolitus, and Julian says the same of Tyndarus: that Pluto cited him before the tribunal of Jupiter, and complained that his empire was considerably diminished and in danger of becoming desolate, from the cures aesculapius performed; so that Jupiter in wrath slew aesculapius with a thunder-bolt; to which they added that Apollo, enraged at the death of his son, killed the Cyclops who forged Jupiter's thunder-bolts: a fiction which obviously signifies only, that aesculapius had carried his art very far, and that he cured diseases believed to be desperate.

aesculapius is always represented under the figure of a grave old man wrapped up in a cloak, having sometimes upon his head the _calathus_ of Serapis, with a staff in his hand, which is commonly wreathed about with a serpent; sometimes again with a serpent in one hand, and a _patera_ in the other; sometimes leaning upon a pillar, round which a serpent also twines. The c.o.c.k, a bird consecrated to this G.o.d, whose vigilance represents that quality which physicians ought to have, is sometimes at the feet of his statues. Socrates, we know, when dying, said to those who stood around him in his last moments, "We owe a c.o.c.k to aesculapius; give it without delay."

ULYSSES, king of Ithaca, was the son of Laertes, or Laertius and Anticlea. His wife Penelope, daughter of Icarius brother of Tyndarus king of Sparta, was highly famed for her prudence and virtue; and being unwilling that the Trojan war should part them, Ulysses to avoid the expedition, pretended to be mad, and not only joined different beasts to the same plough, but sowed also the furrows with salt.

Palamedes, however, suspecting the frenzy to be a.s.sumed, threw Telemachus, then an infant, in the way of the plough, to try if his father would alter its course. This stratagem succeeded; for when Ulysses came to the child he turned off from the spot, in consequence of which Palamedes compelled him to take part in the war. He accordingly sailed with twelve s.h.i.+ps, and was signally serviceable to the Greeks.

To him the capture of Troy is chiefly to be ascribed, since by him the obstacles were removed, which had so long prevented it. For as Ulysses himself was detected by Palamedes, so he in his turn detected Achilles, who, to avoid engaging in the same war, had concealed himself in the habits of a woman, at the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros. Ulysses there discovered him, and as it had been foretold that without Achilles Troy could not be taken, thence drew him to the siege.

He also obtained the arrows of Hercules, from Philoctetes, and carried off that hero from the scene of his retreat. He brought away also the ashes of Laomedon, which were preserved in Troy on the Scan gate. By him the Palladium was stolen from the same city; Rhesus, king of Thrace, killed, and his horses taken before they had drank of the Xanthus. These exploits involved in them the destiny of Troy; for had the Trojans preserved them, their city could never have been conquered.

Ulysses contended afterwards with Telamonian Ajax, the stoutest of all the Grecians, except Achilles, for the arms of that hero, which were awarded to him by the judges, who were won by the charms of his eloquence. His other enterprises before Troy were numerous and brilliant, and are particularly related in the Iliad. When Ulysses departed for Greece, he sailed backwards and forwards for twenty years, contrary winds and severe weather opposing his return to Ithaca.

During this period, he extinguished, with a firebrand, the eye of Polyphemus; then sailing to aeolia, he obtained from aeolus all the winds which were contrary to him, and put them into leathern bags; his companions, however, believing these bags to be full of money, entered into a plot to rob him, and accordingly, when they came on the coast of Ithaca, untied the bags, upon which the wind rus.h.i.+ng out, he was again blown back to aeolia.

When Circe had turned his companions into swine and other brutes, he first fortified himself against her charms with the herb Moly, an antidote Mercury had given him; and then rus.h.i.+ng into her cave with his drawn sword, compelled her to restore his a.s.sociates to their original shape.

He is said to have gone down into h.e.l.l, to know his future fortune, from the prophet Tiresias. When he sailed to the islands of the Sirens, he stopped the ears of his companions, and bound himself with strong ropes to the s.h.i.+p's mast, that he might secure himself against the snares into which, by their charming voices, pa.s.sengers were habitually allured.

Lastly, after his s.h.i.+p was wrecked, he escaped by swimming, and came naked and alone, to the port of Phaeacia, in the island of Corcyra, where Nausicaa, daughter of king Alcinous, found him in a profound sleep, into which he was thrown by the indulgence of Minerva.

When his companions were found, and his s.h.i.+p refitted, he bent his course toward Ithaca, where arriving, and having put on the habit of a beggar, he went to his neatherds, with whom he found his son Telemachus, and with them went home in disguise. After having received several affronts from the suitors of Penelope, with the a.s.sistance of his son Telemachus and the neatherds, to whom he had discovered himself, he killed Antinous, and the other princes who were compet.i.tors for her favor. After reigning some time, he resigned the government of his kingdom to Telemachus.

CASTOR and POLLUX were the twin sons of Jupiter and Leda. These brothers entered into an inviolable friends.h.i.+p, and when they grew up, cleared the Archipelago of pirates, on which account they were esteemed deities of the sea, and accordingly were invoked by mariners in tempests. They went with the other n.o.ble youths of Greece in the expedition to Colchis, in search of the golden fleece, and on all occasions signalized themselves by their courage.

In this expedition Pollux slew Amycus, son of Neptune, and king of Bebrycia, who had challenged all the Argonauts to box with him. This victory, and that which he gained afterwards at the Olympic games which Hercules celebrated in Elis, caused him to be considered the hero and patron of wrestlers, while his brother Castor distinguished himself in the race, and in the management of horses.

Cicero relates a wonderful judgment which happened to one Scopas, who had spoken disrespectfully of these divinities: he was crushed to death by the fall of a chamber, whilst Simonides, who was in the same room, was rescued from the danger, being called out a little before, by two persons unknown, supposed to be Castor and Pollux.

The Greek and Roman histories are full of the miraculous appearance of these brethren; particularly we are told they were seen fighting upon two white horses, at the head of the Roman army, in the battle between the Romans and Latins, near the lake Regillus, and brought the news of the decisive victory of Paulus aemilius to Rome, the very day it was obtained.

Frequent representations of these deities occur on ancient monuments, and particularly on consular medals. They are exhibited together, each having a helmet, out of which issues a flame, and each a pike in one hand, and in the other a horse held by the bridle: sometimes they are represented as two beautiful youths, completely armed, and riding on white horses, with stars over their helmets.

AJAX, son of Telamon, king of Salamis, by Beriba, was, next to Achilles, the most valiant among the Greeks at the seige of Troy. He commanded the troops of Salamis in that expedition, and performed the various heroic actions mentioned by Homer, and Ovid, in the speech of Ajax contending for the armor of Achilles. This armor, however, being adjudged to his compet.i.tor Ulysses, his disappointment so enraged him, that he immediately became mad, and rushed furiously upon a flock of sheep, imagining he was killing those who had offended him: but at length perceiving his mistake, he became still more furious, and stabbed himself with the fatal sword he had received from Hector, with whom he had fought. Ajax resembled Achilles in several respects; like him he was violent, and impatient of contradiction; and, like him, invulnerable in every part of the body except one.

He has been charged with impiety; not that he denied the G.o.ds a very extensive power, but he imagined that, as the greatest cowards might conquer through their a.s.sistance, there was no glory in conquering by such aids; and scorned to owe his victory to aught but his own prowess.

Accordingly, we are told that when he was setting out for Troy, his father recommended him always to join the a.s.sistance of the G.o.ds to his own valor; to which Ajax replied, that cowards themselves were often victorious by such helps, but for his own part he would make no reliance of the kind, being a.s.sured he should be able to conquer without.

It is further added, upon the head of his irreligion, that to Minerva, who once offered him her advice, he replied with indignation: "Trouble not yourself about my conduct; of that I shall give a good account; you have nothing to do but reserve your favor and a.s.sistance for the other Greeks." Another time she offered to guide his chariot in the battle, but he would not suffer her. Nay, he even defaced the owl, her favorite bird, which was engraven on his s.h.i.+eld, lest that figure should be considered as an act of reverence to Minerva, and hence as indicating distrust in himself.

Homer, however, does not represent him in this light, for though he does not pray to Jupiter himself when he prepares to engage the valiant Hector, yet he desires others to pray for him, either in a low voice, lest the Trojans should hear, or louder if they pleased; for, says he, I fear no person in the world.

The poets give to Ajax the same commendation that the holy scripture gives to king Saul, with regard to his stature. He has been the subject of several tragedies, as well in Greek as Latin; and it is related that the famous comedian, aesop, refused to act that part. The Greeks paid great honor to him after his death, and erected to him a n.o.ble monument upon the promontory of Rhteum, which was one of those Alexander desired to see and honor.

JASON was son of aeson, king of Thessaly, and Alcimede. He was an infant when Pelias, his uncle, who was left his guardian, sought to destroy him; but being, to avoid the danger, conveyed by his relations to a cave, he was there instructed by Chiron in the art of physic; whence he took the name of Jason, or the healer, his former name being Diomedes.

Arriving at years of maturity, he returned to his uncle, who, probably with no favorable intention to Jason, inspired him with the notion of the Colchian expedition and agreeably flattered his ambition with the hopes of acquiring the golden fleece.

Jason having resolved on the voyage, built a vessel at Iolchos in Thessaly, for the expedition, under the inspection, of Argos, a famous workman, which, from him, was called Argo: it was said to have been executed by the advice of Pallas, who pointed out a tree in the Dodonaean forest for a mast, which was vocal, and had the gift of prophecy.

The fame of the vessel, the largest that had ever been heard of, but particularly the design itself, soon induced the bravest and most distinguished youths of Greece to become adventurers in it, and brought together about fifty of the most accomplished young persons of the age to accompany Jason in this expedition; authors, however, are not agreed on the precise names or numbers of the Argonauts; some state them to have been forty-nine; others more, and amongst them several were of divine origin.

On his arrival at Colchis he repaired to the court of aeetes, from whom he demanded the golden fleece. The monarch acceded to his request, provided he could overcome the difficulties which lay in his way, and which appeared not easily surmountable; these were bulls with brazen feet, whose nostrils breathed fire, and a dragon which guarded the fleece. The teeth of the latter, when killed, Jason was enjoined to sow, and, after they had sprung up into armed men, to destroy them.

Though success attended the enterprise, it was less owing to valor, than to the a.s.sistance of Medea, daughter of aeetes, who, by her enchantments, laid asleep the dragon, taught Jason to subdue the bulls, and when he had obtained the prize, accompanied him in the night time, unknown to her brother.

The return of the Argonauts is variously related; some contend it was by the track in which they came, and say that the brother of Medea pursued them as far as the Adriatic, and was overcome by Jason; which occasioned the story that his sister had cut him in pieces, and strewed his limbs in the way, that her father, from solicitude to collect them, might be delayed in the pursuit.

CHAPTER XII.